


Tricky

by honestmischief



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Canon Divergence - Avengers: Infinity War Part 1 (Movie), Gen, Humor, Loki (Marvel) Does What He Wants, Post-Avengers: Infinity War Part 1 (Movie), The Card Trick, actual god loki
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-15
Updated: 2021-02-15
Packaged: 2021-03-17 10:41:54
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,375
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29470368
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/honestmischief/pseuds/honestmischief
Summary: Feeling desperate, Jimmy Woo calls upon the God of Mischief to help him learn the card trick.
Relationships: Jimmy Woo & Loki
Comments: 18
Kudos: 35





	Tricky

**Author's Note:**

> i literally don't know what this is i'm sorry

Loki was hiding, which wasn’t an entirely new thing for him to be doing. He somehow had survived getting his neck snapped, and he was part of the lucky half of the universe who hadn't disappeared into a cloud of dust. Loki couldn’t say that he deserved that fate, but here he was.

As Loki settled into his new home in New Asgard, he felt the familiar sensation of a mortal praying to him. It had been centuries since anyone has prayed to the God of Mischief, so Loki was instantly curious.

_ “Hey, Loki are you around? I need your help with something important. It’s about magic, and I know that’s your thing, right?”  _

Loki did not recognize the voice of the mortal.

_ “I could really use your help! I’m desperate!” _

Ever since Loki had attempted to take over Midgard, he hadn’t been viewed kindly by mortals. It was quite startling that someone even thought of praying to him to get his attention, but Loki was intrigued. Using his seidr, he found the location of the mortal in California, and he transported himself there. 

What Loki found when he arrived was even more bizarre. The mortal was seated at his desk with a deck of playing cards placed in front of him. He grasped one, fumbled with it in his palm, and watched with an expression of defeat when it fell onto the ground. 

The mortal jumped out of his seat when he finally realized that he was not alone. 

“Loki!” he exclaimed. “I didn’t think you’d actually hear me, or that you would show up.”

The mortal looked scared by Loki’s presence, rightfully so. Loki was a powerful sorcerer and any mortal would be instinctually able to tell. It was why many people both in Asgard and Midgard avoided his company. 

“Your prayers are loud,” Loki said simply. “What is the meaning of this?” he asked, gesturing to the many cards on the floor. 

“The meaning of this? Well, I know you’re a god, and people pray to gods right? I thought if I spoke to you, maybe you would hear me-”

“The cards, Mortal,” Loki interrupted with a slight grin, feeling amused. 

“Oh, right,” the mortal. said with a sheepish expression. “I’m trying to learn a magic trick. Scott Lang was able to make cards appear out of thin air, and I can’t seem to get it right.”

_ That  _ was why the mortal prayed to him and requested his assistance? For help with a simple magic trick, that was not real magic? Loki could easily make a card appear using his seidr, but this mortal could not. What this mortal was trying to learn was child’s play. 

“Don’t call me Mortal, that’s really strange. I’d prefer Jimmy over that.” 

“Jimmy,” Loki said, drawing out the word. “That is not magic.” 

“There’s no need for technicalities, Loki. Can you still help me?” 

“I have no need to concern myself with mortal illusions,” Loki told him. 

The god began picking at his nails, already feeling bored. There were other things that he could be doing, such as decorating his new chambers, or learning how to play Fortnite to annoy Thor. He did  _ not  _ need to teach a mortal card tricks. 

“Oh come on!” Jimmy shouted. “I’ve been trying to learn this for months. If Scott Lang could do it, I should be able to also!”

Loki did not know who Scott Lang was, and he did not care to find out. 

“I am sure you can handle it, Jimmy,” Loki told him before using his seidr to return to New Asgard.

Jimmy was the first mortal to pray to him in centuries, and it was an absolute waste of time. 

However, as time passed since the encounter, the harder it was for Loki to stop thinking about it. It was quite ridiculous. Loki had better and more worthy things to think about, but Loki wanted to  _ know  _ how the card trick was performed. Sure, he could do it easily with his seidr, but he wondered how mortals were able to perform such an illusion without his abilities. It made him both curious and frustrated. 

The idea of the rick occupied Loki’s mind for days, and he was incredibly annoyed by it. Loki was the kind of person who had the need to know everything, and a card trick that could be mastered by mortals should have been easy for him to figure out. As Loki sat surrounded by cards on the floor, much like Jimmy, he wished he could think about anything else.

“What are you doing?” Valkyrie asked as she entered the room, her hands on her hips as she gave Loki a judging look. Loki figured that he deserved it. 

“Magic,” Loki responded through gritted teeth. 

“I don’t know about that,” she chuckled. “It looks like a complete failure.” 

Loki rolled his eyes. “Don’t remind me.” 

“You’re trying to learn mortal card tricks,” she said once she realized. “Bruce was showing me them a couple weeks ago.”

If Bruce could figure out the card tricks, then Loki definitely should have been able to. 

“Just look it up on Youtube.”

Loki did not know what Youtube was, but Valkyrie showed him what it was on her laptop. It was strange that the mortals displayed their secrets for their magic tricks online for everyone to see. Loki always kept his strategies to himself. 

After an hour of practicing, Loki was able to master the trick. He was able to make a playing card look like it appeared out of thin air without using his seidr. There was no need for him to learn the trick, but he felt unbelievably satisfied when he successfully did it for the first time. 

Loki supposed that he owed it to Jimmy to help him learn the trick. The trick had bugged Loki for a few days, but it seemed like Jimmy had been trying to figure it out for much longer than that. The first mortal to pray to him in centuries deserved to learn the trick, right? 

Jimmy was still in his home in California when Loki located him. The god transported himself there, only to find Jimmy holding a deck of cards in his hands with a defeated expression. Loki wondered why Jimmy hadn’t thought of going on Youtube. 

“Jimmy,” Loki said, announcing his arrival. 

Once again, Jimmy literally jumped out of his seat. Loki could hear the mortal’s heart pounding. 

“Loki! What are you doing here?”

Loki took one of the cards he was hiding in his coat and made it appear out of thin air using the trick he had learned. “I believe you wanted me to show you some magic,” he said with a mischievous grin. 

“Oh, yeah! I still haven’t been able to figure it out.”

Loki stifled a laugh. “Clearly. Let me help you.” 

The god taught Jimmy step by step how to perform the trick and after a lot of practice, the mortal finally was able to perform it. The trick was quite simple. Loki demonstrated how to rest the card flat on his palm, and then flick it with his little finger so he could catch it in the air. Loki could see why it had taken Jimmy so long to figure it out. He was not the most coordinated person, but most mortals seemed to lack hand eye coordination.

“You could have asked me anything about magic, yet you only wanted me to help you learn how to perform a simple card trick,” Loki commented, still feeling somewhat perplexed by the situation. 

Jimmy shrugged. “I only needed help with this type of magic.”

“This is not magic. It is only an optical illusion.” 

“It’s the only kind of magic that us mortals are able to do. Let me have this one,” Jimmy pleaded. 

After some thought, Loki realized that it made sense. Magic was a mystical thing in this world, and if the mortals were able to gain some excitement from something as simple as a card trick, it was not Loki’s place to take that away from them. 

“Then you are quite the sorcerer,” Loki told him, grinning softly. 

Maybe this wasn’t a waste of time at all. 

**Author's Note:**

> follow me on twitter/tumblr @honestmischief i'd love to chat


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